The Cadillac Escalade is a bit of a curious beast in that it is loved equally by families and rappers. Of course families love schlepping the kids to and from activities in a style that says I’ve arrived, while the gangsta crew wants da biggest and baddest all pimped out wit dubs yo. Ok, so I’m lame, but you get the idea. Enter the Escalade Hybrid. Big, mean and green and sporting some killer chrome 22’s, it might be the perfect ride for this somewhat offbeat family to cruise to a dance competition in Buffalo. Yes, it was one of the kiddies dancing, not me.

Since I was in San Fran, Mrs G picked up Big Red so my introduction involved packing the beast for a long weekend away. There were 6 of us along for the ride, and a need to keep the teenagers and the annoying little brothers separated meant that all seats were coming along for the ride in the upright position. It also meant that the space allotted for stuff was seriously limited. While the center and rear rows of seating are easily removed and reconfigured, the 8 passenger Slade is either an awesome passenger hauler or a gargantuan gear hauler, not both. All that being said, if it were only the 5 of us, we’d remove the rearward seats and have a cargo bay big enough to swallow 2 weeks worth of camping gear and our giant hairball of a dog.[Read more…]